Chapter 16

Over the next few days, Ding Qi devoted all his attention to cultivating the Innate Skill. After a few days of cultivation, he finally confirmed that the speed at which true qi was generated when he cultivated the Innate Skill was indeed much faster than when he cultivated the Iron Sand Palm.

The silk scroll did not provide any criteria for evaluating one's aptitude for this skill. However, based on the standards for evaluating aptitude for skills like the Iron Sand Palm, the speed at which true qi was generated had already reached the level of average aptitude.

Although this level was still far from that of those with excellent aptitude, it was several levels higher than the slow pace at which he cultivated the Iron Sand Palm and other skills. This made Ding Qi extremely excited.

"If I cultivate at this speed, it won't be as difficult as I initially thought to achieve a small level of success with the skill," Ding Qi said to himself happily, sensing the flow of true qi in his body.

The cultivation speed of the Innate Skill was already not slow. In the future, if he could find a way to buy medicinal herbs to aid his cultivation, the speed would be even faster. This would make it much easier for him to realize his dream of wandering the martial world.

Each time he thought about how he had fortuitously obtained the cultivation method for the Innate Skill, Ding Qi felt incredibly lucky.

With this thought, Ding Qi sat cross-legged on his bed, ready to begin another round of cultivation.

He cherished every moment of this hard-won opportunity and spent almost the entire day in his room, except for the routine task of tending to the medicinal garden.

However, just as Ding Qi was about to start circulating his qi, his stomach growled embarrassingly.

Hearing the rumbling in his stomach, he realized that he had been cultivating since morning and had not eaten yet.

With a wry smile, Ding Qi got up from the bed, planning to go to town to get his meal for the day.

Due to his preoccupation with cultivating the Innate Skill, he quickly finished his meal and left the Tongfu Inn, intending to return and continue his cultivation.

"That innkeeper Tong is too stingy. Apart from providing free steamed buns and a simple soup for Zhao Guan and me, if we want to eat any other dishes from the inn, we have to pay like regular customers," Ding Qi complained as he walked back to the medicinal garden.

He held a few steamed buns in his hand and a bowl of vegetables, which he planned to take back for dinner.

Although the Tongfu Inn could provide free meals to Zhao Guan and Ding Qi, it only offered them very simple and monotonous food.

Now, being able to eat warm steamed buns at every meal was already a luxury for Ding Qi, far beyond what he had experienced at home. Initially, he was very satisfied with his current meals.

However, over time, as he saw various dishes he had never tasted being served in the front hall of the inn while he ate in the back, he began to hope he could try those exquisite dishes.

But thinking about the cost of those delicious dishes, Ding Qi hesitated and decided to stick to eating steamed buns in the back hall of the inn.

His earnings as an assistant were very limited. Each month, he had to send most of his money home to improve the lives of his parents and younger sister. He kept only a small amount for emergencies, so he couldn't afford to spend money on food.

Fortunately, the meals, though bland, were plentiful, so he didn't have to worry about going hungry. Still, he couldn't help but complain about the innkeeper's stinginess when he returned from the inn each day.

Apart from being a bit stingy, through his interactions over the past few days, Ding Qi found that the innkeeper was actually a decent person. He often saw the innkeeper giving food to beggars like Xiao Mi in town, something that other inns and restaurants would not do, as they would simply drive the beggars away.

As he walked along the road, greeting a few acquaintances, Ding Qi headed towards the medicinal garden outside town, glancing around the town.

Unlike the quiet medicinal garden, Qixia Town, being an important transportation hub within a hundred miles, was quite bustling.

Seeing the people coming and going on the town's streets, and reflecting on the events of the past few days, Ding Qi felt quite sentimental.

"Wow, it looks like Boss Wang's business is really good today! There are as many people as before," Ding Qi said, looking at a shop by the roadside.

The shop was a pharmacy in town, owned by a man named Wang Ji. Since Zhao Guan and Ding Qi were responsible for the medicinal garden, they had some dealings with this pharmacy, and they could be considered old acquaintances.

Ding Qi was well aware of the usual situation at the pharmacy.

Unlike bustling places like inns and restaurants, the pharmacy was usually quiet unless someone in a family was sick and needed medicine. It was much less busy than the town center.

However, today was clearly different. The pharmacy was bustling with people.

On his way to the Tongfu Inn for lunch, Ding Qi had already found it strange to see so many people at the pharmacy and had wanted to see if something had happened. But his growling stomach had made him rush to eat, so he hadn't gone over.

Seeing that the pharmacy was still crowded, his curiosity was piqued again.

Before returning to the medicinal garden, Ding Qi wanted to find out if something had happened at the pharmacy. Since the pharmacy was related to their medicinal garden, any issues there might affect their garden.

With this thought, he walked towards the pharmacy.

"Boss Wang, your business is good today!" Ding Qi said as he approached the pharmacy, where Wang Ji was turning to get something from the medicine cabinet.

Wang Ji was familiar with Ding Qi's voice and knew who it was even without turning around.

"Oh, Little Ding! Business is okay today," Wang Ji replied while searching for the medicine.

Soon, Wang Ji found the medicine, wrapped it up, and handed it to the customer at the counter.

Seeing the customer leave and the pharmacy temporarily empty, Ding Qi was about to ask Wang Ji why there were so many people today when a few more people entered the pharmacy.

"Boss Wang, bring out the phoenix-tail grass; I want to buy some," said a middle-aged man with a long face.

Ding Qi noticed that when the man mentioned phoenix-tail grass, the faces of the others in the group darkened, and they exchanged nervous glances.

Although Ding Qi didn't know why they were so nervous about the phoenix-tail grass, he could tell they were not from the same group.

It seemed they were all there for the phoenix-tail grass.

The reactions of the others confirmed Ding Qi's suspicion.

"Boss Wang, I also need phoenix-tail grass urgently. We are old friends; can you...," said a man with a pockmarked face, glancing at the others.

Before the pockmarked man could finish, the others also said they needed phoenix-tail grass urgently. One of them even offered to buy all the phoenix-tail grass in the shop, indicating that the price was negotiable and could be higher.

"I know you all need phoenix-tail grass, but the little we had was already sold to some big customers this morning. I'm really sorry, but we don't have any left," Wang Ji said regretfully.

No matter how the group tried to persuade Wang Ji, even offering to pay two or three times the usual price, Wang Ji insisted that the phoenix-tail grass was already sold out.

In the end, the group left with disappointed looks.

Seeing them leave, Ding Qi looked at Wang Ji curiously, "Boss Wang, why are so many people buying phoenix-tail grass today, and why are they willing to pay such high prices? This is different from usual."

Phoenix-tail grass, though a specialty of Qixia Mountain, was not a common herb used in medicine. The local mountain people usually sold the herbs they collected to pharmacies like Wang Ji's, which would then sell them in Liangcheng. Occasionally, merchants from other towns would come to Qixia Town to buy phoenix-tail grass.

It was unprecedented to see several groups of people come on the same day to compete for phoenix-tail grass.

Recalling the constant flow of people at the pharmacy when he went to the Tongfu Inn for lunch, and thinking about the group that had just left, Ding Qi suddenly had an idea, and his expression changed, "Boss Wang, are all these people here because of the phoenix-tail grass?"

Wang Ji chuckled, "As Little Ding said, most of the people here today are indeed here for the phoenix-tail grass."

"Oh, is there a problem with the phoenix-tail grass?" Ding Qi asked, intrigued.

Wang Ji sighed, "It's not a problem with the phoenix-tail grass, but something else related to it. You should know about the recent conscription by the government, right?"

"Yes, I know. But what does that have to do with the phoenix-tail grass?" Ding Qi nodded and then asked, puzzled.

"Let me explain. Today, an official notice was posted in Liangcheng. It says that if you can deliver 500 phoenix-tail grass plants to the government for two consecutive years, you can exempt one person from conscription. Now you understand, right?" Wang Ji said.

Hearing this, Ding Qi was shocked. With Wang Ji's explanation, he understood immediately.

"So that's why so many people are buying phoenix-tail grass today," Ding Qi nodded.

For ordinary families, conscription was a terrifying disaster. Those conscripted often never returned, dying in battle and leaving their families in ruin.

Even with a one in ten thousand chance, no family wanted to be conscripted, but the government's conscription orders were not something ordinary people could resist.

Those with connections and abilities would do everything to avoid conscription, like Ding Qi's second uncle. However, most ordinary people had no such means and could only wait for conscription to come.

Now that the government had announced that conscription could be avoided by delivering phoenix-tail grass, it was the only way for ordinary people to avoid the disaster. Families with some means but not enough to avoid conscription would buy phoenix-tail grass on the market to exempt their family members from conscription.

"With this notice, the price of phoenix-tail grass will definitely rise," Ding Qi muttered.

Wang Ji chuckled, "Who would have thought? That's why those people who left earlier were willing to pay two or three times the usual price for phoenix-tail grass."

Wang Ji continued, "Unfortunately, the notice hasn't been posted in town yet. The big merchants from Liangcheng, who got the news early, bought all the phoenix-tail grass from me before dawn. Otherwise, I could have made a fortune by stockpiling it."

As he spoke, Wang Ji's face showed regret. However, with the subtle intuition brought by cultivating true qi, Ding Qi sensed that Wang Ji's eyes were flickering, and his words were not entirely honest.

Understanding why the pharmacy was so busy, Ding Qi didn't stay long. After a few more words with Wang Ji, he left the pharmacy and returned to the medicinal garden.

"This Boss Wang is really cautious," Ding Qi shook his head, amused.

Since cultivating true qi, Ding Qi had a special sensitivity to phoenix-tail grass.

Wang Ji claimed that he had sold all the phoenix-tail grass in the morning, but he didn't know that Ding Qi could clearly sense a large stock of phoenix-tail grass in a back room of the pharmacy.

Wang Ji was known in town for his shrewdness.

Clearly, Wang Ji had not sold all the phoenix-tail grass in the morning as he claimed. Instead, he had obtained the news about the phoenix-tail grass earlier than others and stockpiled a batch in his shop.

He planned to sell it when the price rose even higher.

To prevent the news from leaking, he had even tried to deceive a young man like Ding Qi. Despite his caution, Wang Ji's nervousness was still noticeable to Ding Qi.

Although he had detected Wang Ji's intentions, Ding Qi wouldn't expose him and cause trouble. He knew from the stories he had heard from Old Zhang that it was best to stay out of such matters to avoid making enemies.

Putting Wang Ji's actions out of his mind, he thought of something else.

"I've tested Old Bai and asked my second uncle, and they both said that even with true qi, it's impossible to have any special sensitivity to phoenix-tail grass. My situation is clearly different. I wonder why," Ding Qi thought, puzzled.

He had asked others about his ability to sense phoenix-tail grass after cultivating true qi, but even those with true qi could not easily find phoenix-tail grass. This left Ding Qi very curious about the reason.

"Could it be that the true qi Old Zhang gave me is special?" Sometimes, Ding Qi thought this.

When he realized that ordinary martial artists could not find phoenix-tail grass as quickly as he could, he suspected that the problem might lie with the true qi Old Zhang had given him.

That true qi must have some special quality.

In fact, when he thought back, his ability to notice the anomaly in the Iron Sand Palm manual was also due to the sudden change in the true qi Old Zhang had given him.

This led to his great fortune in obtaining the Innate Skill.

However, he still couldn't understand what made that true qi special.

"Well, if I can't figure it out, I won't think about it. It's not a bad thing. Instead of worrying about something I can't understand, I should focus on cultivating the Innate Skill," Ding Qi shook his head, deciding not to dwell on the issue.